The present invention relates to the generation of power by buoyant forces and particularly to an apparatus that converts the potential energy of a gas buoyant within a liquid into rotating mechanical energy.
When a gas is introduced into a liquid that is more dense than the gas, the buoyant forces acting on the gas will cause the gas to rise. If a container is placed in the path of the rising gas, the gas will enter the container and displace an equal volume of liquid from the container. According to Archimedes' principle, this will create a force of buoyance (F.sub.B) in the bucket equal to the weight of the displaced liquid.
A practical use of this principle involves attaching a plurality of buckets to a chain or belt to form a continuous loop. The buckets can move in a vertical direction upwards or downwards through the liquid. That configuration is well known to those skilled in the art. However, the efficient use of the buoyant forces developed requires an apparatus that minimizes any non-vertical movements of the buckets and provides for the rapid entry of gas into the buckets in addition to the rapid displacement of liquid from the buckets. The present invention is directed to this problem of efficient power generation.